drought, endurance and climate change ‘pioneers’

Cultural Studies Review volume 16 number 1 March 2010

http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/csrj/index Deb Anderson 2010

Drought, Endurance and Climate Change ‘Pioneers’

Lived Experience in the Production of Rural Environmental Knowledge

DEB ANDERSON

…thefutureashistorypromisesvastchangesinallfieldsoflife—bothhorrificpossibilitiesandrenewedhopesforhumankind.

JamesO’Connor,TheMeaningofCrisis1This is a story of drought and climate change. The scene is a beguiling, semi‐arid,inland Australian environment—one that has historically tested its inhabitantssorelythroughrecurrentperiodsofdroughtandyetwhich,onreflection,respondswelltohumanneedsonlyinsofarasitsbiophysical ‘limits’arerespected.Thechiefprotagonistisathird‐generationwheatfarmer,whosespokenwordbringscountrytolife.Andtheplot—well,theplotunfurlsincompelling,ifconfounding,ways.

The story commences in an all‐too‐familiar Australian saga of ruralpioneeringendurance—aboom‐and‐busttaleofbackbreakingwork,toldwithgrimhumour, of ‘survival’ through sporadic environmental extremes of drought.Anchoredinthatversionofthepast,thetaletwistsintoaperiodofruraldecline—ofcrisis ‘so commonplace as to seem clichéd’—to depict an agro‐industrial presentcloudedbyeconomicuncertainty, amplifiedbyprolongeddrought andheightenedby public debate on global climate change.2 Then, the plot thickens. The sceneitself—of climate in the wheat‐belt—shifts in ways that defy generations of livedexperience.Thatfinalstraw,sotospeak,promptsareflexiveidealisationofhistory

Deb Anderson—Drought, Endurance and Climate Change 83

as the future: in the end, ‘a new generation of pioneers’, no less,will ‘survive’ bylearning, within country, to ‘pull back’.3 A battler history of survival is rewrittenwithamessageofecologicalenlightenment.

As sociologistBarbaraAdamwrote, ‘tradition constitutes renewal at everymoment of active reconstruction of past beliefs and commitments’.4 The story onwhich this article builds is a case in point. For in this interconnected narrative ofhumans and non‐human nature ‘going somewhere’ (change, as environmentalhistorian Donald Worster wrote, ‘is never all there is in nature’; change ‘leadssomewhere, and it has a discernible direction, conventionally called Progress’),5 aparableofchangebringswithitapotentyearningfortradition.Inturn,thispromptsusasruralculturalresearcherstotakeseriouslythewayssocialandenvironmentalrisks are inextricably linked, to consider how and why human interpretations ofdisaster survive because of their usefulness in social and cultural systems.6 Thisstory of drought and climate change is, therefore, even more a story about themakingofstories—ofstorytellingasanexpressionofpoliticsandtime,andofhownarrativefulfilstheideologicalneedsofthemoment.

Here,IdrawuponresearchconductedwithdrylandfarmcommunitiesintheMalleewheat‐beltofnorthwestVictoria from2004 to2007.7ThiswasaperiodofprolongedandrecurrentdroughtsacrosssoutheastAustralia.Muchasdroughts inAustralia throughout the twentieth century were defined, consistently, as‘unexpectedlysevere’inintensityorduration,8in2005thenationwaspronouncedassufferingoneoftheworstdroughts‘onrecord’—‘inourhistory’,statedtheprimeministeroftheday.9Thiswasalsoaperiodofmarkedshift inpublicawarenessofclimate change. And, arguably, climate change projections have intensified debateoverruralfuturesinAustralia.10

Culturalengagementwithclimateisunderconstantrenegotiation,however,asruralculturalresearch isapt toreveal.11 In theMallee, Igatheredoralhistorieswith twenty‐two people, life narratives that reveal the social and culturaldimensionsofclimatechange.12Thisarticleexploresthemulti‐generationalstoryofjustoneofthosenarrativestoexplorethehistoryofideasovertime.Allowingspacefor the richnessofdetail thatpersonalhistoryoffers, Ihavewoven inelementsofpublic history and analysis of the ways discourse on lived experience of climatedefines and localises the identities of people and place in the production of

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environmentalknowledge.Inasensethischoiceofresearchmethodwaspragmatic,fordiscourseanalysis is inherentlypolitical; itdrawsattentiontothe ‘naturalising’functionofdiscourseandthepartial,contingentnatureofknowledgeonclimate.

The concept of ‘drought’ to which I refer is a cultural term. Its primaryconnotationsarelessrelatedtorainfallthantoanoverarching,mythicnarrativeofendurance. Insofar as droughts have punctuated Australian rural, regional andnational histories, ‘drought’ has played a prominent role in the ongoing socialconstruction of a ‘harsh’ and ‘unpredictable’ climate and in the mythologising ofruralbattlers,shapingfoundationalnarrativesofstruggleandhope.13

—

In Victoria, the most intensively settled of Australian states, the Mallee in thenorthwest corner is the most sparsely populated region, with the lowest annualrainfall.14Incounterpoint, it isanultra‐productivistlandscape—aregiondrivenbyforces of capital accumulation and engaged in ever‐larger‐scale industrialagriculture. The Victorian Mallee covers 39,300 square kilometres, or about one‐sixth of the state.15 Here, ‘productive land’ is considered ‘the backbone of theeconomy’ and about two thousanddryland farmersproducehalfVictoria’s annualcerealscrop,mostlywheat.16Uptoonemillionhectaresofthislandputindryland(rain‐fed)cropseachyear,‘fed’onanannual‘average’of200to500millimetresofrain.17

RuralhistoriesoftheMalleehaverepresentedspiritedsagasofcommunitystruggle, endurance and hope in ‘battling’ a harsh climate. As environmentalhistorian Tom Griffiths noted, the very word ‘Mallee’ became ‘synonymous forheroic, even bloody‐minded settlement’.18 ‘Settled’ from the mid‐1800s with theestablishmentandsubsequentcollapseofpastoralism,theregionwas‘openedup’inthewholesale clearing ofmallee forest and advance of dryland agriculture in thetwentiethcentury.Europeanoccupationof thesemi‐aridMalleehasbeennarratedpredominantly as an ongoing struggle on a frontier beset by environmentalextremes,‘wherecopingwithdisastrousdroughtwaspartofthepioneerlifestyle’.19Indeed,Mallee local histories form dedications to those pioneers, ‘who succeededbecausetheyneveradmitteddefeat’.20


By contrast, the region’s name derives from bushland considered to localIndigenouspeopleasasupporteroflifebecauseofthewaterinmalleeroots.21Theterm‘mallee’isappliedtoeucalyptswithamulti‐stemmedhabit;atthebaseofthestemsisawoodystructureorlignotuberthatenablesvegetativerecoveryafterfireor other ecological stress.22 Invading Europeans deemed this bushland ‘uselessscrub’ (a form of linguistic overkill, given in Australian English the term ‘scrub’alreadydenotesplantspeciesliabletobeconstructedasoflittlevalue).23Examplesof contemporaryMallee tourism retain a fixationwith the historical idea that, byextension,Mallee countrywas regarded as ‘useless’,24 but this (dis)regard speaksalsooftheforceofcolonialandproductivistregimessinceappliedtoit.Profoundly,inasmuch as ‘Mallee’ serves as a geographical marker, it is a placename foundeduponabsence.25TheMalleemarksthesiteoftheveryclearanceofthree‐quartersoftheoriginalmallee lands.26This is countrywhere themallee once grew.Today togazeoutacrossMalleecountryis,onoccasion,toseenomalleeatall.

—

Thisdistrictthroughhereisnevergonnamakeyouamillionaire.Youcanalwayssurviveandthat’swhatIlikeaboutit…ifyou’repatientandcarefulwithit,you’llalwayssurvive.

HubieSheldon,organicbroad‐acrewheatfarmer,200527Sheep scatter in a wheat stubble‐lined paddock, where someone’s predecessorsbarelya centuryago rolledandburned theirblockofmallee ‘scrub’.Today in latesummeritisastrikingpanorama,boldinmagnitudeyetsubtleincolour.Sandhillsslopeawayintoavast,silentexpansewhereconvergingplough‐linesforcetheeyeto traverse seemingly endless layers of white‐beige, tan‐orange and rust‐pink.Skirtingthefencesattheedgeofthesevastcroppingbeds,hemmedinlikeremnantpocketsofreprieve,aredark‐olivethicketsofnativemalleebush.

It’sthirty‐ninedegrees,it’sFebruary,andearlierinthedayIhadembarkedonwhatfeltlikeadrivetotheendofEarthtoreachNgallo—pronounced‘ne‐gallo’and meaning ‘a spring’—a blip on the map of Victoria’s semi‐arid northwest.28 Iadmit,bythehourIreachHubieSheldon’sfarmmythoughtshaveturnedtocolonialengineer Alfred Kenyon’s infamous account of ‘sand, scrub andmallee below, the


scorching sun and bright blue sky above, and not a sound to break the solemnsilence’.29Suchwordsformedthenarrativebed,sotospeak,forhis1912StoryoftheMallee: a pioneering battle saga ofmenwith ‘hearts like lions’, newmethods andever‐more‐advanced machines who would make this country ‘profitablyproductive’.30 Unlike Kenyon with his oratory (or this researcher with her voicerecorder),thisistheplaceSheldoncallshome.HereonaMalleebroad‐acrewheat‐sheeppropertyiswhereSheldonlivesonhisownandwherehehasspentmostofhis life, as did his father and mother before him, and his father’s parents beforethem, having selected and cleared their block of sand and clay country in 1910.Acrossanoldkitchentable,Sheldonbeginshisstory.

—ENDURANCE

That’s the only reason why a person farms, I think, is because you’realwaysthinking‘ohwell,nextyear’llbealright’.Andevenifit’snot, ‘well,thenextyearwilldefinitelybealright’…

RobertPole,conventionalbroad‐acrewheatfarmer,200531

As they say, pride goeth before a fall… Trees are dying, old establishedtrees.Youwatchthemastheystarttolosetheirleaves…andit’sjustthatthey’vejustgivenup…Thetreesarealittlebitliketheolder,establishedfarmers.Theyseemtojust,they’lltakeitandtheytakeitandtheytakeit—andthentheyseemto,just,giveup.

AndreaHogan,newspapereditor/councillor,200532

DroughtisafactoflifeintheMallee.Andifyoucan’tfarminadroughtintheMallee,wellyouhavetogetout.Andthat’saprettycruelstatement.

GregBrown,conventionalbroad‐acrewheatfarmer/councillor,200533Sheldon is theonlymemberofhis family left farming in theMallee.As a child, heattendedschoolinthenearbytownofMurrayville.YetitwasfarmlabourandideasontheeducationalvalueoffarmfamilialworkthatgoverneddiscourseonchildhoodinSheldon’shistory(andanethicsofwork,asameansofknowingnature,prevailedinhis contemporary farm life too).Therewasno televisionathomewhenhewasyoung;anyway,hewasexpectedtohelpoutonthefarm:‘TheOldManwasalways


one to keep you busy… You get out and you do something to earn your keep…teaches you values early on.’34 He completed form five in 1977, after which hecontinuedworkingathomeon the farm.Thenunderhis father’smanagement, theproperty operated on a conventional three‐year crop rotation with sheep, fallow(therepeatedtillingofsoil,inpreparationforsowing)andcrop.Hisfatherhaddiedin 1985, aged seventy‐five, from emphysema caused by inhaling dust whileharvesting clover seed in the1950s and ’60s.But theOldMan (also a ‘Hubie’), aswell as ‘a couple of uncles’, retained prominent roles in Sheldon’s discourse onsettlerMalleehistoryandclimate.35Thesemenfiguredasprimarystorytellersinthetales of life on the land that he’d heard as a child,which centred uponperiods inNgallodistricthistoryofenvironmental calamityandmarket failure.ThosestoriesbeganwhentheSheldonpropertywasstillnot‘properlydeveloped’:

Whatmeparentshavetoldmeinregardstothisdistricthere…Theyhadthe1914drought,whichwasacalmdrought.Welltherewasonestory,itdidn’tevenblowenoughwind to turn thewindmills togetwater for thehorses,sotheyhadtoputaropeonthewheelandpullthewheeloverandthatwasajobpeoplehadtodo,pumpwater…

AndthenthroughtheFirstWorldWarerarightthroughtheearly’20s,thedistrictbasicallyhadaboom.Therewasgoodseasonsoneaftertheother,no hassles, and prices were good, everything looked rosy and then, thefirstbaderosionyearwas1927—plusitwasadroughtysortofayear,andaswellasarabbitplague,whichasmefatherexplainedorshowedme,hesaidwhentherabbitswerebadtheycouldeattenchaininsidefromaroad…‘Itwouldbeeatendown,’hesaid,‘likefallow’…Andhesaideverywhereyoulooked,therewasdust.36

Rapid change to a semi‐arid landscape had not come without consequence, andSheldon’s story of theMallee began to form the shape of an evocative, if absurd,narrativeofendurance,inwhichpeoplesurvivedphysicalandeconomicextremes:

Andthen1928wasagoodseasonandeveryonethought‘ohwellit’sgone’.And then ’29 comeand the same thinghappened andhe said, ‘Well thatwasaquadrella then.Youhad thedustand theerosionand thewind,as


wellastherabbits,aswellasthere’dbeenamouseplaguefromthegoodharvestof’28,andthentheDepressionhit.’

So,yeah, that testedpeopleout. Imean, ifyoustayed in theMallee then,youwereserious.[grins]37

Indeed,thetriumphalismofMalleelandsettlementabatedinthe1930swhen,amideconomicstrife, the regionexperienceddust ‘monsters’attributed tomassive landclearance, soil tillage and drought.38 As Griffiths writes, ‘Many farmers wereoverwhelmedby thisenvironmentaldisaster, and familiesabandoned theirhomesandholdingsinthemiddleofthenight,unabletofacetheneighbourswhostayed’.39Thatexperienceofdisasterwroughtaneraofpublicandbureaucraticconcernoverenvironmentalproblems,culminatingintheestablishmentoftheSoilConservationBoard in1940.40Meantime, in thepress,Mallee,dust, saltandwindcame to formthe discursive markers of a counter‐narrative of colonial presence. ‘Is the MalleeBlowingAway?’posedaheadlineinTheAustralasianinJanuary1941,forexample.41Malleesoilshadbeen‘badlytreated’bysettlers,thatreportcited:overstockingwithsheepandcattle,rapidexpansionoflandcultivation,‘badseasons’andgovernmentadvice to ‘growmore andmorewheat’ had all contributed to unprecedented soildrift.With‘millionsoftaxpayers’fundssunkintheruins’,Victoriawasinjeopardyofbecoming ‘amenacingdustbowl’.42TheMallee, asbothphysical and cultural site,was being constructed as having fallen victim to processes of excess through a‘lexiconofconsequence’—which,asculturalhistorianJ.M.Arthurhaspointedout,ishow problems associated with dust, wind and salt have been represented indominantAustraliandiscourseonenvironment.43

Thenotion thatenvironmentaldestructioncouldbepinnedonan ignorantpeoplewasaninadequatesummationofsettlerregardforthelandorknowledgeofitslimits,however.AshistorianWorsterarguedinhishistoryoftheAmericanDustBowl–Depression era, which, similarly, spanned the 1930s, capitalism has been adecisive factor inagriculturalexploitation: ‘Wespeakof farmersandplowson theplains and the damage they did,’ hewrote, ‘but the language is inadequate.Whatbrought them to the region was a social system, a set of values, an economicorder.’44 Further, as Tim Bonyhady argued in his episodic work of Australianenvironmentalhistory,TheColonialEarth,peoplecanknowmuchaboutland—and


stilldamage it.Bonyhadyadvocatedamorecomplicatedversionof thepast, for ‘itwas largely through thedetailofwhatAustraliansdepicted, said,anddid thatonecouldseehowtheyoccupiedtheland,bothimaginativelyandphysically’.45Onthatnote, Sheldon’s retelling of this period of Mallee history—a mediation of livedexperience—sentimentalised the value of backbreaking labour and of family andcommunityendurance.Thisserved,asweshallsee,asbothculturalcapitalandanhistoricalbackdropforchange,iflocalisedredemption.

Sheldon’s storyof ‘Mallee survival’ continued throughanagricultural cycleofboomandbust:wherethe1930swere‘reasonableseasons’,inthe1940sdroughtreturned;inthedroughtof1944,therewassomeerosionagain,butthat ‘broke’inthe startof1945and ‘theweatherpatternopenedup’oncemore.46From the late1960s, Sheldon’s history shifted into an era of personal recollection—of what heremembered ‘in his time’. Dust storms marked his recollection of the drought of1967: ‘Iwasonlyalittlekid,Icanrememberacouplapaddockshereblewabit.’47And then, ‘o’course’, he said, he couldn’t forget the summerof 1983.As connoted,drought in the early 1980s came to be viewed as a defining period for drylandagriculture in theMallee,when socioeconomic hardship peaked.Widespread cropfailure, declining world prices for wheat and, significantly, skyrocketing interestratescombinedtocreate‘amostdifficultperiod’fordebt‐ladenMalleefarmersandfarmcommunities.48Farmlivelihoodscrumbled.Families,marriagesandindividuallives ‘fell apart’. A throwaway line in a 1989 report by the University of NewEngland’sRuralDevelopmentCentreindicatedthedegreeofhumandespair:‘GiventhesituationintheMallee[by]late1985,virtuallyanyactiontakenwouldhaveledto some improvement in the community’s wellbeing.’49 And, as Sheldon’s storyreveals, the 1980s drought came to signify not only Mallee crisis but also anenvironmentalbattleground:

Itlookedshocking,youknow,attheendofFebruary[1983]andyouwerewonderin’howmuchworse is it gonnaget. Imeana lottapaddocks thatwerepastureweregougedoutinstrips,wheresheephadwalked…lookedlikethere’dbeenawarfoughtthere.50

HereSheldon’sstoryrepresentsaconnectionbetweenwaranddroughtdiscoursesindominant ruralhistoryof theMallee (a siteof ‘battlewithnature’bynomeans


exclusive to drought; as Don Gardenwrote in his history of the state of Victoria:‘Mandidnotgainanupperhand in theNinetyYearsWaragainst therabbitsuntilthe 1950s’).51 More broadly, Australian histories of drought‐affected landscapeshaveattractednotonlymilitaristdiscoursebutalsomilitaryhistorians,withoneofthemostprominentsocialhistoriesofdroughtinAustraliahavingbeencompiledbyMichaelMcKernan,a formerseniorAustralianWarMemorialhistorian.And,asheconfessedintheintroductorypagestothathistory,Drought:TheRedMarauder,hewasdrawntostudydroughtafterhecameacrossapoignantremarkfromaMalleesoldiersettlerondroughtduringtheDepression:‘IwouldsoonerdotenyearsatthewarthanoneattheMallee.’52Ifdroughtinournationalhistoryhascometofunctionas a key symbol in a ‘whiteAustralianmythology’—as sociologistsBradWest andPhilip Smith contend, ‘to temper the national character through struggle’—thendominantMalleehistorieshavereadasstoriesofover‐ridingheroism,ifnotvictoryagainstallodds.53

—UNCERTAINTY

I think that maybe some of the farmers are really frightened … They’restrugglingnowtotryandkeeptheirheadsabovewaterfinanciallyand…they don’t want to hear more doom and gloom …While there’s ‘doubt’thereaboutglobalwarming,they’lltakeit.

LynneHealy,women’shealthworker,200654

There’sdoubtstartingtocomeintoit,whetherit’sreallyworthdoingwhatwe’re doing. Because really, if it—the drought of ’06—happens again in’07,Iwouldprettyconfidentlysay…theagegroupofbetween25and35probablywon’tbehereintwoyears.

BrentMorrish,harvestingcontractor/conventionalbroad‐acrewheatfarmer,200755

Social anthropologists on several continents and in varied cultural contexts haveargued that lived experience, and the memory of it, strongly shapes farmers’interpretationsofclimate.56Asonestudyintohowfarmersusedlocalandscientificinformationonclimateconcluded, farmers’ interpretationswere ‘anchoredintheirremembrance of desirable or dreaded situations they lived through, their


observationsabout theconditions thatbrought themabout,andtheirassessmentsofhowtheymanagedthroughthem’.57Sheldon’soralhistorylendsplentyofweightto that precis—most significantly, perhaps, when his story drifted from past topresent, when he began to depict the experience of dwelling in agro‐industrialuncertainty. Arguably, in the late twentieth century Australian farmers became‘chained’ to a treadmill of corporate dependency, technological change andproductivism.58GeographerGeoffreyLawrencehaspointedtotheuseofchemicalsin agriculture as a prime example of this. He writes: ‘the faster chemicals areapplied,themoretheywillbeneededinthefuture:thefasteragricultureutilisesthecorporatestrategyofagribusiness,thegreatertheentirecommunity’srelianceuponthatstrategyanduponthosecorporationsbecomes’.59Lawrencenotedthe‘illogical’foundations on which that strategy was based, including its dependency on non‐renewable resources (fossil fuels) and its potentially damaging impacts on foodproducts,thepeoplewhoeatthem,andtheagriculturalecosystemproducingthemtoo.60

Sheldon’s narrative of his life on the land produced a troublingcontemplationof this ‘agriculturalmodernity’, of the riseof intensifiedandmono‐cultural cereal cropping practices, aided by modified crop breeds and a near‐autonomous technological advance. Further, talking about this era prompted areflexive assessment of the dependency of agricultural communities on theconditions of the production treadmill, that is, of how such dependency hadreshaped drought ‘survival’. And, at this point of Sheldon’s story, historicalawarenessof theharmful impactsof agri‐capitalismupon theMalleeenvironmentwas expressed as a desire to learn how to read country better—for, asenvironmentalhistorianRichardWhitewrote: ‘Aconnectionwiththelandthroughwork creates knowledge, but it does not necessarily grant protection to the landitself.’61

In the decade to 1985, the Sheldons had cropped some of their ground‘hard’.62 Through soil tillage, or ‘working the ground’ on a system of ‘good earlyfallow’,Sheldonsaidhis father ‘could tend tobea littlebitover‐keen’: ‘Heused togetitdriftin’—there’snodenyin’that.’63Whenhisfatherpassedaway,Sheldonhadturnedtwenty‐five.‘I’vejuststayedwiththefour‐squaremileo’landthatwehad—there’s roughly 2500 acres [about 1000 hectares]—and stayed with simple


machinery frommid‐1960s’.64 That said, the property was to undergo significantchangeunderSheldon’snew‘management’.Hestartedexperimentingwithwaystoget clover,whichhadbeen farmed, fallowedand sprayedoutover theyears,backintohispaddocksforsoilhealth.65Thenhebegantolookintochemical‐freefarming.‘Ireadalittlebookaboutorganicsatthebeginningof’92,’hesaid. ‘Afewthingsinthat little book… twigged the imagination a bit and I thoughtwell, you know, I’llhave a go at this.’66 Sheldon said he began to rethink his farm as part of anecosystemicwhole. In the context of his shift to organic agriculture, he portrayeduncertainty over the sustainability of conventional dryland farming. In thatportrayal, not only were dominant agricultural monocultures destroying theconditionsfordiversespeciestoexist;dominantknowledgewasdestroyingtheveryconditionsforalternativestoexist.

First, he realised he had to ‘slow it down’: his ideas of sustainabilitywereembeddedindiscourseon‘easingoff’and‘pullingback’.Thiswasadeclinenarrativeofdeceleratingprogress to create amore environmentally soundagriculture.Thisversionof anantimodernenvironmentaldeclinismwas foundeduponquestioningthespeed,sizeandintensityofmodernisingprocesses(techno‐scientificactivity)inlate capitalist agriculture.67 It also questioned scale and complexity in place andidentity‐makingprocesses.‘Theonlywaythingscanreallygetbacktohowitcouldbe sustainable?’ Sheldon proffered: ‘You gotta have smaller holdings with peoplethat are really interested in what they’re doing.’68 In contrast to contemporary,prevailing, neoliberal discourse of agricultural and economic vulnerability thatfocuses on issues of scale (smaller farms are considered more vulnerable to thehazards of climate, much as global economic forces are perceived increasingly asdetermining futures for localpeople)Sheldonadvocated ‘smallness’ inagriculturalholdingsandmachinery,and‘simplicityasbest’.69

Sheldon explicitly linked the increased use of chemicals in agriculture totechnological change that superseded human labour, thus, to the loss of socialcapital in theMallee. Sheldon pointed out what he’d heardwas happening in theWesternAustraliangrain‐belt.There,earlierthaninnorthwestVictoria,farmershadtakenonzero‐tillagepractices—awayofgrowingcrops fromyeartoyearwithoutdisturbing thesoil through tillage, thus increasing theamountofwater in thesoil,


decreasingerosionandyet,paradoxically,significantlyincreasingherbicideusageasameanstoadapttodrierclimaticconditions:

A lot of farmers around here are going zero‐till and all spraying[herbicides].That’llrunitscourse.Thesystem’sbreakingdowninWesternAustralianowalready...They’regoingbacktotillage.Alotofdamagewillbedoneinthemeantime.70

While agri‐scientific expertise and farming lived experiencewere consideredbothvalid but inherently partial in the formation of a broader social‐environmentalknowledge, Sheldon believed the widespread shift toward zero‐tillage practices(whicharecurrentlyadvocatedbyfarmingsoilconservationgroups,backedbystateand federal government funding, as a keymeans of achieving greater agriculturalsustainability in the Mallee) by conventional farmers was effectively ‘replacingpeoplewithaboomspray’.‘Wewanttokeepitsimpleandkeepsomepeopleinthedistrict,’hesaid,‘ratherthanjustgetbigger.’71

Thus,Sheldonhistoricisedtheriseofagriculturalscienceandtechnologyinterms of community decline and the de‐industrialisation of agricultural practices,counteringthecapacityofcapitalismtoreconstruct landscapesasexchangevaluesunderprofitimperatives.‘The“getbigorgetout”era’,hesaidofthelatetwentiethcentury,waswhen‘realchange’occurredintheMallee: ‘Manyoftheearlyfarmersgot out then.’ And farms did get big—up to twenty thousand acres, in parts.Meanwhile,however:‘Allyoursmallclubs,wholecommunity,fallstobits…It’stheold story: if you keep replacing people with machinery, don’t need any peopleeventually.’72

In themeantime, based on his assessment of environmental risk, Sheldonhad sought to reduce and eventually eliminate his dependence on the chemicalmaterialsofmainstreamagriculture.Fromthisemergedaperceptionofsocialriskand a communitarian aim—of strong communities amid uncertainty—that waspremisedonnostalgicrenditionsofamorepopulatedruralpast.This impliedthatsomemoremutualistic,cooperative(mythic)versionofcommunityexistedpriortothe ‘get big or get out’ era of the preceding three decades, as agricultural‘restructuring’reshapedtheAustraliancountryside.Drivingthisvisionofa ‘return’tobiggerruralcommunitieswasthatofgoing‘back’togreaterrelianceuponhumanlabour. Also, this stressed the significance of dwelling inmeaningful work, which


critically framed Sheldon’s ideas on agricultural sustainability in theMallee—andcircumscribed his vision of a Mallee future under conditions of climate change.Indeed, Sheldon’s Mallee was ‘a forgiving style of landscape’—one that requiredpeople’srespect,andofwhichhumansshouldavoidasking‘toomuch’:

WhatImeanby‘forgiving’:youcan’tbeltyourcountryandexpectitjusttocome back. Andwhen I say ‘belt it’: crop it and crop it and crop it andexpect it to keep giving … the country can look fairly crook after aprolonged period of dry weather, but you don’t need huge amounts ofrainfall for this country to really blossom… It’s good country as long asyouworkwithinthelimitsofwhatitcando.73

—ADAPTATION

Wearemoreculturallydeterminedtonotbesatisfiedwithstopping…It’sa kind of grotty Darwinian way to think about things … It’s a globalproblemthatrequireseconomicengineering…Icanseesomanysignsofhumanevolutionatworkintheeconomyandsomanysignsofeconomyinhumanevolution.

BenJones,farmconsultant/researchagronomist,200774

Wellno…wecan’tletit[climatechange]becomeanegative.We’vealwaysgottolearn.You’vegottoseeandadjustasyougoalong.

JimMaynard,MalleeSustainableFarmingchairman/conventionalbroad‐acrewheatfarmer,200775

Thespringof2006,inparticular,broughtadramaticshiftinAustraliandiscourseonclimate,whichwas linked toAustralians’ contemporaryexperienceof theweatherandunderlinedthepowerofpopularcultureasamediumformainstreamscience.76By 2007, as a survey of Australian attitudes to climate change reported, the ‘vastmajority’ofAustraliansnolongerdoubtedclimatechangewas‘real’orattributableto human activity that caused greenhouse gases.77 The report concluded: ‘Watershortagesandthedroughthavecertainlysharpenedthepublic’sinterestintheissueandasensethatwearealreadyseeingtheeffectsofclimatechange.’78InSheldon’sviewtoo,localclimatewasshiftinginwaysthatdefiedlivedexperience:


Doyoubelieveinclimatechange?

I think it’s different than what it was … [last year we] had fourexceptionallycold,windydaysatthestartofFebruary,andthat’sthefirsttimeI’deverseenthathappeninmylife…IcanrememberbackasfaraswhenIwasakid,Imean,thefirstorsecondweekofFebruarywasalwaysbackatschool,anditwasstinkin’hot…Wedidnothavecoldsoutherliesand that sortaweather in the ’60s and the ’70s…or in the ’80s for thatmatter.79

YettoSheldon,farmingintheMalleewasanongoing‘learningexperience’.AsoneofmorethanfifteenhundredcertifiedorganicfarmsinAustralia,whichcoveredabout1.7 per cent of Australia’s agricultural area in 2003,80 his home formed a site ofpossibility—not for the kind of growth, development or risk‐taking manifest indominant agri‐capitalist outlooks, but for renewing relations to place. In light ofclimate change, rather than seek a technological fix, he stressed the need to keeplearning to ‘adapt yourself and your lifestyle to that country, and try and get aconsistentpatternyearafteryear’:

That’s the critical balance that I feel that we do need to really learn asdrylandfarmersinthecountry,iswhatwecandooveralongperiodandnot have to think: ‘Oh well, we’ve had a drought, we’ve gotta crop thewhole lot next year and hope like hell we get a big season to get outtatrouble.’It’sabitlikeanythinginlife—ifyoucangetconsistencyintoyourpattern,you’llgoalotfurtherthanhavingboomorbustallthetime.81

Itwas in that context of conditionsunder climate change that Sheldonenvisionedthefuture:

We’reprobablygonnahavetochangethewaywedothingssoonerratherthanlater.Andonceagain, it’llbesomethingthat’llhavetobedoneatanindividuallevel…It’llbeanewgenerationofpioneers,roughly.Wewon’thavetoclearthelandandworkwithhorsesandbustourguts,but…we’llhaveto…haveamodestlifestyleandbepreparedtoputafairbitofwhatyourfarmmakesbackintochangingit.That’stheonlywayit’llhappen.82

Here discourses of endurance, uncertainty and adaptation appear to collide. Thiswas an interpretation of farming environment in which climatic uncertainty and


pioneering struggle served as defining features, which proffered a means of‘adapting’ toachangingMalleeclimate—where traditionhelpsconstituterenewal.In this regard, his was a political (moral) discourse of observing social‐environmental ‘limits’, and of revaluing labour in the relations of nature andlivelihood. Concurrently, that interpretation of life under conditions of climatechangeservedtoamplifyalocalidentity‐andplace‐baseddiscourseofMalleehopeand endurance. Anchored in remembrance of droughts, and the assessment ofhaving managed to endure, Sheldon’s discourse on ‘climate change pioneers’returnedtodrawinguponsettler‐descendentculturalcapital—acollectivehistoryofsurvival.

—

The cultural renegotiation of climate is tied to the imagining of landscapes;conversely, as this article argues, the historical discursive delimitation of droughthasbeeneverybitmaterialasithasbeenconsequential.Sheldon’sstory,anaccountoftheexperienceofdwellinginuncertainty,formedanactivereconstructionofthepastinabidforrenewal—acompellingbidtoretraditionaliseasocialenvironmentthatdrewattentiontoexistentialcrisisasruralchange(socio‐economic,structural,politicalandenvironmental)posedathreattotheidentityofMalleedrylandfarmingpeople.83 Certainly, insofar as this paper sheds light on an affirmation of andchallenge to a narrative of rural ‘pioneering’ in light of climate change, droughtdiscoursesattesttothepowerandpervasivenessofbattlerhistoriesofenduranceinAustralianruralculture.Perhapsinsomerespects,however,perceptionsofclimatechange(globalistideasperse)arecomplicatingtheveryideaof‘droughts’havinganend (or a beginning). Yet a survivor narrative does assume a stable self can berecovered.Inthefaceofchange,Sheldon’soralhistoryconjuredagrandnarrativeofcultural and physical processes acting together to determine or block the path tosurvival.Hisideasrepresentedaformofresistance,foundedonprinciplesofmutualaid,simplicity,directactionanddecentralisation,andhisorganicfarm‘plan’wasakind of limited farming ‘utopia of reconstruction’ that sought to renew specific,creativerelationshipsbetweenhumansandnon‐humans.84Hisstorybegantotouchupontheformationofabiologicalmodel,a lesson inenvironmentalhistory. Intheend, Sheldon’s story was about an Australian environment and his changing


relationship to it, his conversationwith it, if you will, as much as it was about acollectiveconversation:

When you look at Australia and its history … while we’ve been here acoupl’ahundredyears,we’veprobablyonlyreallydeveloped thecountryinthelasthundred,andmoreparticularlyinthelastfifty.Sothat’savery,verybrief time.Andwe’vealteredthis landscapeahellofa lot inashortperiodo’time.

And if that’sgonnachangeourweatherpatterns—which it,well, it lookslike it is—we need to look at what we’ve done in the past and try andlearn.85

—

Deb Anderson’s interests lie in rural, environmental and cultural studies. She isworkingonaPhDattheUniversityofMelbourne;shealsoworksforthepress.Deblives in thecity’spoliticalgreenbeltbuthome isstill the family farmonwhichshegrewup,inthesticksofnorthQueensland.<[email protected]>

—ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ThisresearchwasconductedonprojectsponsoredbytheUniversityofMelbourneandMuseumVictoria.TheauthorwishestothankHubieSheldon,whosestoriesformthecoreofthispaper,CSReditorsandrefereesfortheircomments,andWendyandDavidAnderson,AnetaPodkalickaandTomBamforthforawealthofideasandencouragement.

—NOTES

1JamesO’Connor,TheMeaningofCrisis:ATheoreticalIntroduction,BasilBlackwell,Oxford,1987,p.13.2Sociologistswroteofthe‘cliché’ofruralcrisiscoverageinLisaBourkeandStewartLockie,‘RuralAustralia:AnIntroduction’,inStewartLockieandLisaBourke(eds),RuralityBites:TheSocialandEnvironmentalTransformationofRuralAustralia,Pluto,Sydney,2001,pp.1–13,p.1.3ThefirstandsecondquotesarederivedfromDebAnderson,‘HubieSheldon:PerceptionsofClimateChangeintheMallee’,unpublishedoralhistory,Ngallo,Vic.,2006.ThethirdquoteisfromDebAnderson,‘HubieSheldon:TheLivedExperienceofDroughtintheMallee’,unpublishedoralhistory,Ngallo,Vic.,2005.Asyetunpublished,alloftheoralhistoriesrecordedforthisresearchwillformanewcollectionandstateresourceatMuseumVictoria(expectedtobecomeavailablein2010).4BarbaraAdam,‘DetraditionalisationandtheCertaintyofUncertainFutures’,inPaulHeelas,ScottLashandPaulMorris(eds),Detraditionalisation:CriticalReflectionsonAuthorityandIdentity,Blackwell,Oxford,1996,pp.134–48,p.137.


5WorsterarguedDarwinismhadturnedbiologyintohistory,suchthatastoryof‘change’becamethatofprogressinnature.DonaldWorster,‘NatureandtheDisorderofHistory’,inMichaelSouleandGaryLease(eds),ReinventingNature:ResponsestoPostmodernDeconstruction,IslandPress,Washington,DC,1995,pp.65–85,69–70.6See,forexample,SheldonKrimsky,‘TheRoleofTheoryinRiskStudies’,inSheldonKrimskyandDominicGolding(eds),SocialTheoriesofRisk,Praeger,Westport,Connecticut,1992,p.20.7Theprojectbeganin2003.Initially,Iintendedtoendthefieldworkphaseinthesummerof2005.Bythatautumn,however,abouthalfofAustralia’sarablelandwasdrought‐affected.Declarationsofdroughtandgovernmentannouncementsthatthoseafflictedwouldreceivesocialwelfare‘reliefpayments’madenationalnewsheadlinesonanear‐dailybasis.Asthedryconditionslingered,thehistoricalandmeteorologicalrecordbookswererewritten.ThispromptedasecondroundoffieldworkinFebruary2006,andaroundofbrieffollow‐upinterviewsin2007.8BradWestandPhilipSmith,‘Drought,DiscourseandDurkheim:AResearchNote’,AustralianandNewZealandJournalofSociology,vol.32,no.1,1996,pp.93–102,94.WestandSmithconductedtheirstudyofmediaandpoliticaltextsovertheonehundredyearsto1995.9JohnHowardinMishaSchubert,‘$250mRescuePackageforFarms’,Age,31May2005,p.4.10DebAnderson,‘Drought,Enduranceand“TheWayThingsWere”:TheLivedExperienceofClimateandClimateChangeintheMallee’,AustralianHumanitiesReview,no.45,2008,pp.67–81.11WhenIreturnedtotheMalleein2006and2007,talkofuncertaintyaboutclimatechangepeppereddiscussionondrought.Theintervieweesbeganreflectingontheirearlierobservations.Somedoubtedthemselves.Othersdoubtedtheclimatescience.Alldoubtedthepoliticianswhohadweighedinheavilyonclimatechangedebateasafederalelectionyeardrewcloser.Intervieweeswerereconcilingknowledgeofclimategainedthroughlivedexperiencewithmoreabstractideasreceivedthroughscienceandthemedia.12IinitiallyusedcontactsestablishedbyMuseumVictoriatolocatepotentialsubjectsinAugust2004.Thereafter,Ilocatedintervieweesthrough‘coldcalling’orbyreferralfrominitialinterviewees.Isoughtacross‐sectionofperspectivesfrompeopleinanumberofindustriesandpublicservices.Thisresultedinagroupoftwenty‐twointerviewees,whotypicallyworeseveral‘hats’inlife:farmers,home‐makers,membersoflocalgovernment,harvestingcontractors,anewspapereditor,anurse,women’shealthworkers,educators,administrators,agronomistsandpeopleinvolvedincommunity‐drivenorganisationsdedicatedtosocialandenvironmentalsustainability,socialwelfareadvocacyandthepreservationoflocalhistory.Mostinterviewswererecordedandconductedface‐to‐face,onaverageonceayearforthreeyears.13Anderson,‘Drought,Enduranceand“TheWayThingsWere”’.14MickLumb,‘Introduction’,inDavidConnorandDavidSmith(eds),AgricultureinVictoria,AustralianInstituteofAgriculturalScience,Melbourne,1987,p.5.15TheVictorianMallee(representing17.3percentofVictoria’stotalarea)isbutaportionofAustralianMalleecountry.Thesemi‐aridregionalsocoverspartsofNewSouthWalesandSouthAustralia,andextendsacrosstheNullarborthroughWesternAustralia.Assuch,theMalleedemarcatestheedgeoftheAustraliancommercialcroppingzone.16MalleeCatchmentManagementAuthority,‘RegionProfile’,2008,viewed10March2008,at<http://www.malleecma.vic.gov.au/index.php?id=66>.Farmersalsocropbarley,fieldpeas,canola,oats,rye,corn,lupinsandotherpulses.17DepartmentofPrimaryIndustriesVictoria,‘Mallee:Climate’,2007,viewed14February2008,at<http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/dpi/vro/malregn.nsf/pages/mallee_climate>.18TomGriffiths,‘MalleeRoots:ABriefHistoryofVictoria’sNorthwest’,ParkWatch,no.178,1994,pp.21–3,p.21.


19RhonavanVeldhuisen,PipeDreams:AStrollthroughtheHistoryofWaterSupplyintheWimmeraMallee,Wimmera‐MalleeWater,Horsham,Victoria,2001,cover.Seealso,forexample,DorisTorpey,TheWayItWas:AHistoryoftheMallee1910–1949,LocalHistoryResourceCentre,Ouyen,Victoria,1986andWestonBate,HavingaGo:BillBoyd’sMallee,MuseumVictoria,Melbourne,1989.20WinifredM.Nixon,WhiletheMalleeRootsBlaze:TheStoryofBerriwillock,BacktoBerriwillockCommittee,1965,Berriwillock.ChapterOneofNixon’sworkbegins:‘Icame,Isaw,Iconquered’.Seealso:BacktoBerriwillockCommittee,Foreword,BerriwillockCentenary,MalleePrinters,SeaLake,1990,pp.5–6.21DonHopgood,Foreword,inJ.Noble,P.JossandG.Jones(eds),TheMalleeLands:AConservationPerspective,CSIROAustralia,Adelaide,1989,p.v.22CSIROandAustralianNationalBotanicGardens,‘Habit’,Euclid,2002,viewed15August2009,at<http://www.anbg.gov.au/cpbr/cd‐keys/Euclid/sample/html/habit.htm>.23 D.ParkesandD.Cheal,‘PerceptionsofMalleeVegetation’,inJ.Noble,P.JossandG.Jones(eds),TheMalleeLands:AConservationPerspective,CSIROAustralia,Adelaide,1989,p.7;J.M.Arthur,DefaultCountry:ALexicalCartographyofTwentiethCenturyAustralia,UNSWPress,Sydney,2003,pp.91–5. 24See,forexample,MargaretKelly,DiscoverVictoria’sMallee:ExperiencetheHeritageandExploreitsNationalParks,MargaretKelly,Meringur,Vic.,circa1992,p.5.25Thatmarkerreferstothecountrysituatedbetweentemperatewoodlandstothesouthandmorearidfloratothenorth;seeHopgood,Foreword,p.v.26Griffiths,‘MalleeRoots’,p.23.27Anderson,‘Sheldon:TheLivedExperienceofDrought’.28JillNickollsandAnnAngel,MalleeTracks:AWanderer’sGuidetotheSouthAustralianandVictorianMallee,JillNickollsandAnnAngel,Pinnaroo,SA,2003,p.86.29Kenyon,citedinRobinBromby,UnlockingtheLand:TheSagaofFarminginAustralia,Lothian,Melbourne,1986,p.55.30ThefirstKenyonquotationisinBromby,UnlockingtheLand,p.55.Thesecond,AlfredKenyon,TheStoryoftheMallee:AHistoryoftheVictorianMallee,ReadBeforeTheHistoricalSocietyofVictoria18March1912,IanWoodandKeithHofmaier,Rainbow,Vic.,1982,pp.1–2.31DebAnderson,‘Robert,MerleandMichaelPole:TheLivedExperienceofDroughtintheMallee’,unpublishedoralhistory,Walpeup,Vic.,2005.32DebAnderson,‘AndreaHogan:TheLivedExperienceofDroughtintheMallee’,unpublishedoralhistory,Hopetoun,Vic.,2005.33DebAnderson,‘GregBrown:TheLivedExperienceofDroughtintheMallee’,unpublishedoralhistory,Underbool,Vic.,2005.34Anderson,‘Sheldon:TheLivedExperienceofDrought’.35Hisfatherbegankeepingrainfallrecordsforthepropertyin1954.Anderson,‘Sheldon:TheLivedExperienceofDrought’.36Anderson,‘Sheldon:TheLivedExperienceofDrought’.37Anderson,‘Sheldon:TheLivedExperienceofDrought’.38Griffiths,‘MalleeRoots’,p.22.39Griffiths,‘MalleeRoots’,p.22.40Griffiths,‘MalleeRoots’,p.23.41R.V.B.,‘DriftingSands:IstheMalleeBlowingAway?’TheAustralasian,18January1941,pp.42–3,42.42R.V.B.,‘DriftingSands’,pp.42–3.43Arthur,DefaultCountry,p.162.44DonaldWorster,DustBowl:TheSouthernPlainsinthe1930s,OxfordUniversityPress,Oxford,1979,pp.4–5.


45TimBonyhady,TheColonialEarth,MelbourneUniversityPress,Melbourne,2000,p.2.46Anderson,‘Sheldon:TheLivedExperienceofDrought’.47Anderson,‘Sheldon:TheLivedExperienceofDrought’.48JimLees,BruceMcKenzie,NickJacksonandJenniferGreaney,TheMalleeCrisisCommitteeExperience:AReview,RuralDevelopmentCentre,Armidale,NSW,1989,p.1.49JimLeesetal.,TheMalleeCrisisCommitteeExperience,p.i.50Anderson,‘Sheldon:TheLivedExperienceofDrought’.51DonGarden,Victoria:AHistory,ThomasNelsonAustralia,Melbourne,1984,p.131.52InMichaelMcKernan,Drought:TheRedMarauder,Allen&Unwin,Sydney,2005,p.3.53WestandSmith,‘Drought,DiscourseandDurkheim’,p.99.54DebAnderson,‘GwenCookeandLynneHealy:PerceptionsofClimateChangeintheMallee’,unpublishedoralhistory,Ouyen,Vic.,2006.55InDebAnderson,‘BrentandMelissaMorrish:PerceptionsofClimateChangeintheMallee’,unpublishedoralhistory,Tiega,Vic.,2007.56See,forexample,SarahStraussandBenjaminOrlove(eds),Weather,Climate,Culture,Berg,NewYork,2003.57CarlaRoncoli,KeithIngram,ChristineJostandPaulKirshen,‘MeteorologicalMeanings:FarmersInterpretationsofSeasonalRainfallForecastsinBurkinaFaso’,inStraussandOrlove(eds),pp.181–200.58See,forexample,GeoffreyLawrence,CapitalismandtheCountryside:TheRuralCrisisinAustralia,Pluto,Sydney,1987;LockieandBourke(eds),RuralityBites;IanGrayandGeoffreyLawrence,AFutureforRegionalAustralia:EscapingGlobalMisfortune,CambridgeUniversityPress,Cambridge,2001.59Lawrence,CapitalismandtheCountryside,p.62.60Lawrence,CapitalismandtheCountryside,pp.62–3.61RichardWhite,‘“AreYouanEnvironmentalistorDoYouWorkforaLiving?”:WorkandNature’,inWilliamCronon(ed.),UncommonGround:RethinkingtheHumanPlaceinNature,W.W.Norton&Co.,NewYork,1995,pp.171–85,181.62Forexample,somepaddockswerecroppedcontinuouslyforuptofouryears.63Anderson,‘Sheldon:TheLivedExperienceofDrought’.64Anderson,‘Sheldon:TheLivedExperienceofDrought’.65Hespreadgypsumandtoyedwithdifferentratesofnitrogenfertiliserandtraceelements.66Anderson,‘Sheldon:TheLivedExperienceofDrought’.67AndrewMurphyhasanalysedthefamilyofcritiquesknownasantimodernenvironmentaldeclinismaspartofalongstandingrhetoricaltraditionofdeclinenarratives.SeeAndrewMurphy,‘Environmentalism,Antimodernism,andtheRecurrentRhetoricofDecline’,EnvironmentalEthics,vol.25,no.1,2003,pp.79–98.68DebAnderson,‘HubieSheldon:Update’,telephoneinterview,Ngallo,Vic.,December2007.69Anderson,‘Sheldon:Update’.70Anderson,‘Sheldon:Update’.71DebAnderson,‘HubieSheldon:ReflectionsonDroughtandClimateChange’,unpublishedoralhistory,Ngallo,Vic.,February2007.72Anderson,‘Sheldon:Update’.73Anderson,‘Sheldon:TheLivedExperienceofDrought’.74DebAnderson,‘BenJones:ReflectionsonDroughtandClimateChange’,unpublishedoralhistory,Mildura,Vic.,2007.75DebAnderson,‘JimMaynard:PerceptionsofClimateChangeintheMallee’,unpublishedoralhistory,Mildura,Vic.,2007.


76ScientistSnowBarlowcitedinNerissaHannink,RebeccaScottandJanineSim‐Jones,‘TheBigShift’,UniversityofMelbourneVoice,vol.1,no.1,2007,p.4.‘Therecordmaximumtemperaturesandtheaccompanyingbushfiresofearlyspring2006dramaticallyunderlinedtothecommunitythatthisisnotjustaseveredrought—itisclimatechange,’Barlowwrote.Significantly,headded:‘AtthesametimewehadtheSternreportprovidingcredibleeconomicanalysisofthecostsofcontinuedinactionandAlGore’sOscar‐winning“slide‐show”bringingthescienceofclimatechangetomillionsinAustraliaandinternationally.’77TheAustralianClimateInstitute(whosestatedgoals,itshouldbenoted,weretoraiseawarenessofglobalwarmingand‘motivatethecountrytotakepositiveaction’)reportedinMarch2007thatconcernaboutclimatechangewasat‘analltimehigh’,afterasurveyof1000Australiansfoundthatclimatechangerankedasmoreimportantthanhousingaffordabilityandnationalsecurity.SeeClimateInstituteofAustralia,‘ClimateoftheNation:Australians’AttitudestoClimateChangeanditsSolutions’,31March2007,viewed18May2007,at<http//www.climateinstitute.org.au/cia1/publication.php?content_id=80>,pp.1,3.78ClimateInstituteofAustralia,‘ClimateoftheNation’,p.17.79Anderson,‘Sheldon:PerceptionsofClimateChange’.80About14percentofcertifiedorganicfarmersproducedcerealcropsin2003.CommonwealthDepartmentofAgriculture,FisheriesandForestry,‘TheAustralianOrganicIndustry:ASummary’,2004,viewed15August2009at<http://www.daff.gov.au/foodinfo>.Theforewordtothisreportstatedthat,asyet,littledatawaspublishedontheorganicindustryinAustralia.81Anderson,‘Sheldon:TheLivedExperienceofDrought’.82Anderson,‘Sheldon:PerceptionsofClimateChange’.83Anderson,‘Drought,Enduranceand“TheWayThingsWere”’.84DavidMacauley,‘Introduction:GreeningPhilosophyandDemocratisingEcology’,inDavidMacauley(ed.),MindingNature:ThePhilosophersofEcology,Guildford,NewYork,1996,p.6.Macauleyusedthetermtotracetheemergenceofphilosophicalworkthatilluminatedtheecologicaldimensionsofutopianthought.Specifically,heusedthetermtodistinguishphilosopherLewisMumford’sworkonutopiafromthatwhichfocusedon‘escape’.85Anderson,‘Sheldon:TheLivedExperienceofDrought’.

drought, endurance and climate change ‘pioneers’

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